CNN-IBN announces winners of the Indian of the Year Award 2008

This year's awards acknowledged the efforts of all the medal winning Indian Olympians

CNN-IBN felicitated the winners of the annual Indian of the Year Awards at the award function held on February 2 in New Delhi. The awards were instituted in 2006 to recognise the outstanding contributions of Indians in fields as diverse as politics, sports, business, entertainment, public service and the global arena.

The chief guest for the evening was Pranab Mukherjee, minister of external affairs, India, and the guest of honour for the evening was the speaker of the Lok Sabha, Somnath Chatterjee.

Rajdeep Sardesai, editor-in-chief, IBN Network 18, lauded the winners of this years' CNN-IBN Indian of the Year Award. He appreciated the winners for truly deserving the honour, coming out triumphant after facing stiff competition and being ahead of the others in times of crisis.

G.Madhavan Nair, chairman, ISRO got to be the proud winner of the CNN-IBN Indian of the Year title. Nair was conferred the honour for leading the country's moon mission, Chandrayaan. Nair and his team bagged the title in the Public Service category for successfully spearheading and executing Chandrayaan.

The year 2008-09 seems to be the year of music director AR Rahman. The winner of many international awards for his music score in the movie Slumdog Millionaire, Rahman walked away with the honour of the Global Indian of the Year.

The chief minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar, walked away with the trophy of the Best Man in Politics, while the proud winner of an individual Olympic gold, Abhinav Bindra, walked away with the Best Sports Person's title. In the Business category, Aditya Puri, managing director, HDFC Bank, got the coveted award of the Businessman of the Year.

The chief minister of Delhi, Sheila Dixit, was bestowed with a Special Electoral Achievement award for winning three consecutive assembly elections.

As a mark of respect for our officers who lost their lives fighting terrorists in Mumbai, assistant sub-inspector, late Tukaram Omble and the Mumbai police force was recognised for the extraordinary service rendered by them to the nation.

Actor Aamir Khan, the face of movies such as Taare Zameen Par and the latest hit, Ghajini, was declared the Biggest Entertainer of the Year. Thespian actor Dilip Kumar was conferred the Lifetime Achievement award by South Indian superstar Mohanlal.

This year's awards also recognised the efforts of all the sports persons who made the country proud at the Olympic games.

The awards were based on voting by an eminent panel of jury members (who were drawn from various fields such as art, business, sports, politics, movies) and through public voting. Hindustan Times provided editorial support to the event.

The CNN-IBN Year of the Award 2008 was aired live on CNN-IBN.